Comune Borgo San Martino

piazza Vittorio Emanuele - 15032 Borgo San Martino (AL)
Tel. +39 (0142) 428.003
Fax: +39 (0142) 429.554
E-mail: info@comune.borgosanmartino.al.it
http://www.comune.borgosanmartino.al.it

Borgo San Martino, unlike other villages that had a more or less prolonged infancy, grew to adulthood.
Its birth certificate, drawn up in Chivasso by the notary Ruffinus de Brandoleno, provides evidence of its founding date, November 20, 1278, and the name of its founder, the Marquis of Monferrato, William VII, known as the Great.
But it didn't arise from nothing: the first community, by order of the founder himself, was to be established and comprised of the inhabitants and territory already belonging to the villa of "Sarmazia," with the willingness to also host the inhabitants of Villa Moneta.
It seems reasonable to believe that the name of the pre-existing and now extinct Villa Sarmazia descended from one of the ancient Sarmatian settlements, established in the territory of the Roman Empire during the 4th century AD. However, there is no information about it prior to the year 988, and it is not possible to determine the precise period of its foundation. However, there are numerous testimonies from the subsequent period, in which the toponym gradually took on the forms of Sarmaza (years 988, 999, 1027, 1143, 1164, 1184, 1185, 1198 and the beginning of the 13th century), Sarmassa (1041), Sermacya (1159), Sarmatia (1159, 1210, 1231, 1278), Farmacia (1193, 1202, 1211, 1223, 1231, 1311), Sermacia (1220, 1233, 1240, 1278).
The community of Sarmatia, which already had its own church dedicated to Saints Quiricus and Giulitta, martyrs in Tarsus in 304 AD, moved to the new location, also transferring the titles of its ancient patrons to the new parish church, promptly erected in Romanesque-Gothic style in the late 13th century. The new parish (like the previous one, perhaps as early as 1014) continued to belong to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Pavia, where it remained until 1805, when it passed to Alessandria and finally, in 1806, to the Diocese of Casale S. Evasio (now Casale Monferrato).
The new center, which was to be built near the San Martino grange, owned by the Abbey of Lucedio, was named Villa San Martino in its founding act, but also required it to be equipped with defensive structures (a fence, moat, bastions, gates, and bridges). It thus arose as a true "fortified place," hence its appearance, taking on the name, not of a villa, but of Borgo San Martino. Equipped by the Marquis with a suitable castle, it soon became involved in the political and military events of the Marquisate and later Duchy of Monferrato, to which it belonged under the direct rule of the Aleramici (until 1305), the Paleologi (until 1536), and then the Gonzaga, uninterruptedly until 1708, when Monferrato became Savoy territory.
When Casale became the capital of Monferrato, the importance of the fortified village also grew, where the Marquises maintained a strong garrison, and its recurring involvement, either defensive or offensive if it fell into enemy hands. For these functions, the castle was repeatedly dismantled and rebuilt, depending on the changing fortunes and conflicting judgments of the Marquis or the various occupying armies, especially during the sieges of Casale and the wars of succession.